Traffic detours, road closures planned ahead of Saturday’s ‘Run Sunset Beach’ race

SUNSET BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Traffic detours and road closures will go into effect early Saturday morning ahead of the ‘Run Sunset Beach’ race.

The changes will begin around 6:30 a.m. before half marathon runners leave the town park at 6:45 a.m., run down Shoreline Drive West, and turn right into Sea Trail on Clubhouse Road.

Shoreline Drive West will be blocked at Clubhouse Road and traffic will be detoured through Sea Trail to Old Georgetown Road or Old Point Lane. Vehicles that are going to an open business past this point will be sent to West Canal Avenue for access.

Seaside Road will be down to two lanes for the event. The south bound travel lane will be closed off for runners to travel in. During this time the traffic coming into town on Seaside Road, starting at Old Georgetown Road, will be traveling in the center turning lane. The North bound travel lane will not be affected.

Old Georgetown Road will be closed from Clubhouse Road to Seaside Road in the East bound lane. We will have one of our informational signs informing motorists of the detour prior to Clubhouse Road on Old Georgetown Road. There will be a police officer ensuring that no cars make a right hand turn onto Old Georgetown Road from Clubhouse Road.

There will also be race staff at Sandpiper Bay Drive, Wyndfall Drive, and Jaguar’s Lair to make sure vehicles exiting those neighborhoods do not turn into the racecourse. Vehicles that wish to get to Seaside Road from Calabash will have to turn onto Clubhouse Road and exit Sea Trail via Old Point Lane. Race staff will have a vehicle following the last runner of the half marathon and will be removing cones to open Old Georgetown Road as quickly as possible.

Traffic will not be allowed to travel South of the traffic circle at the bridge for the duration of the event. Traffic that approaches the traffic circle will either have to go over the bridge, return north down Sunset Boulevard North, or go down Shoreline Drive East.

The bridge itself may be closed for a short period at the beginning of the 5K/10K races with a start time of 7:00 a.m.

5K/10K runners will leave the town park, go to the traffic circle, go over the bridge, and continue on their individual race courses. The highest volume of runners will be in this group.

Once the rush of those runners is over the bridge one lane will be opened to traffic. There will be a pilot vehicle escorting vehicles on and off the island to keep it as safe as possible. The pilot vehicle will be helping keep runners in the outside lanes while keeping a safe speed in the center section of the bridge. The bridge will stay at one lane until staff can determine that it is safe to open both travel lanes.

All runners are expected to be finished by 11:00 a.m. and all roadways will resume normal travel.